Buddies

Fusion Energy is, in principle, a hugely attractive energy source. It relies on a fuel, hydrogen, that abounds everywhere in the world, and on processes that release no greenhouse gases. In contrast to nuclear fission, it yields only short-lived radioactive waste that is relatively easily handled and cannot be made into raw material for nuclear weaponry.
If a fusion reactor could be made to work economically, the payoff would truly be a Holy Grail. The rub: enormous amounts of pressure and heat are required to make fusion happen, and even if the technical feat of creating self-sustaining fusion reactions can be accomplished in principle, there remain the challenges of achieving a net energy gain and, even tougher, a net economic gain.